The present invention relates to an apparatus for supporting a bucket-type container of a relatively viscous material that requires mixing and, more particularly, to an improved mixing stand for holding a bucket container of viscous building material in a safe and stationary position so that a worker may effectively mix the material in the bucket as needed before its use.
In construction projects, many types of liquid building materials require mixing on the work site before the materials can be used and applied. These liquid building materials, which include plaster, grout, mortar, spackling compounds and other coating and sealing materials, are relatively viscous in nature and typically supplied to the work site and stored there in bucket-like cylindrical containers of plastic. Typically, the bucket containers for these materials are standard in their cylindrical configuration and are made available in conventional three and five gallon (seven and nineteen liter) sizes, each having essentially the same diameter. Regardless of whether these liquid building materials have been pre-mixed in their containers, a thorough mixing is usually required before use to homogenize the components that may have separated over time or to mix in an added ingredient needed before the material is applied. On the worksite, it is common and most effective to mix the liquid building material directly in the bucket containers in which they are supplied so as to avoid the difficult task of transferring the materials to a separate mixing container and the consequent risk of spillage.
Because of the relatively high viscosity of these liquid building materials, especially after being stored for an extended period of time, the use of a powered mixing unit including an electric drill with a mixing attachment adapted to insert into the container is needed to facilitate the difficult task of mixing the viscous material and effectively homogenize its components without fatiguing the worker. While the powered mixing unit facilitates the task, it does generate a significant torque that induces a rotation of the container during mixing which tends to reduce the efficiency of the mixing operation, increasing the time and effort required to mix the material. The resulting torque may even cause the bucket container to inadvertently tip over and spill the material contents. To minimize the torque movement and rotation of the bucket container during the power mixing, containers have been placed in position to be gripped manually between a user's feet and legs or have been retained in such a position by means of mechanical devices.
The manual method of preventing movement and rotation has proven to be very difficult and somewhat hazardous for the worker to accomplish especially with the bucketed material being mixed immediately beneath his torso and between his legs. As a result, a variety of mechanical devices have been conceived and developed for retaining the bucket container during mixing and have included belts, braces, clamps and combinations thereof along with the incorporation of friction surfaces that are designed to seat or partially jacket the container in order to resist rotation. A few examples of these prior art mechanical retainer devices designed for mixing bucketed materials are found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,208 to Kennard, Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,464,184 to Lytle; U.S. Pat. No. 6,779,915 to Foster, Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,942,191 to Zagorsky; U.S. Pat. No. 7,178,766 to Forshee et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,261,262 to Dunson. While these and other prior art devices have been generally satisfactory in retaining bucket containers of selected materials of lesser viscosity, there are limitations found in the prior art devices that make them less than suitable for mixing highly viscous materials, such as spackling compounds. The clamping features of some of the prior art bucket retainer devices are found to provide insufficient torque resistance for the more viscous materials that need mixing on the job site, while others that do provide adequate anti-rotational clamping, require the worker to stand in an unsafe position immediately over the bucket container with his feet straddling the material while power mixing. This positioning of the worker immediately over the bucket container while power mixing its contents is one prone to serious injury and harm to the worker. Therefore, a need exists for an improved device for securing a bucket container of viscous building material in a safe and stationary position so that a worker may effectively and thoroughly mix the material in the bucket as needed.